Feeder for stamp and other mills.



No. '799,376.- PATBNTED SBPT12,1905.

vc. G. HAMEL. FEEDER POR STAMP AND OTHER MILLS.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 21, 1903. Rmmwnn APB. 3.1905.

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Uz'zn Pases In venzor CHARLES C. HAMILL, OF BARSTOV, CALIFORNIA.

FEEDER FOR STAMP AND OTHER MILLSl Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1905.

Application filed January 2l, 1903. Renewed April 3, i906. Serial No.253,628.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. HAMILL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Barstow, in the county of San Bernardino and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Feeder for Stamp and otherMills, of which'the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide superior means forautomatically feeding the appropriate amount of ore to the battery ofthe stamp-mill or to the rollers or other crushing devices of the mill,the same being adapted for accurate adjustment and being automaticallyrregulated to meet the requirements of the mill in accordance withvariations in the character of the ore during the operation of the mill.This automatic feed `is adapted for use regardless as to the characterorcondition of the ore, whether hard or soft, fine or coarse, wet ordry.

A further object of this invention is to provide the conveyer-belt ofthe feeder with armor to protect it against erosion by the conveyedmaterial.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure I is a side elevation of an ore-feeder embodying this invention.Fig. II is a plan of the same, the hopper being omitted. Fig. III is anend elevation. Fig. IV is a detached detail of the belt-operatingpulley, its shaft, and the pulley driving clutch mechanism. Fig. V is adetached detail, in side elevation, of the pulley-driving clutchmechanism. Fig. VI is a cross-section of the belt. Fig. VII ios lafragmental longitudinal section of the In constructing an ore-feeder inaccordance with my invention I make aframe 17 of suitable size andstrength, within which I mount a hopper or'receptacle 6, preferably withinclined walls,.in which a suliicient quantity of material can be storedbefore being fed to the mill. The bottom of the hopper is open, anddirectly below it is arranged a .belt or conveyer 2 in position tosupport the contents of the hopper and gradually carry it forward. Thebelt is passed around pulleys 3 and 5 at its ends, and its intermediateportion is preferably supported on pulleys 4. It is moved forward by anysuitable means, one form of which is a clutch and which will behereinafter more fully described. The upper surface is preferablyprovided with protectingshields, and each edge is provided with abarrier or flange 2, which may be beveled or inclined upon its innerface. The edges of the belt extend out beyond the sides of the hopper,so that the lips may project above the bottom of thev hopper and preventthe escape of material. The pulleys 3 and 5 are each longer than thewidth of the belt and provided at each end with a shoulder or Hangewhich will ac t as a guide and automatically hold the belt in positionto cause it to run true longitudinally relatively to the hopper andprevent the ianges 2 from becoming unnecessarily worn by coming incontact with the sides of the hopper, the shoulders on the ends of thewheel being preferably inclined. In addition to this the belt is of agreater length than the length of the hopper and eX- tends beyond theends of the bottom thereof to keep the ore from spilling out at the rearend and to deliver it to the spout or other receptacle at the other end.By constructing the hopper and belt in this manner the belt can bearranged in a substantially horizontal position without danger of theore escaping at the sides or at the rear end of the bottom of thehopper, for the only portion of the ore that can possibly make its waybetween the hopper and the belt will be very fine, and it cannot escapebeyond the lips or iianges 2 at the sides of the belt. It will alsoprevent the ne material from cutting or grinding the belt, as would bethe case if the edges of the belt were within the hopper, for the reasonthat the weight of the material will have a tendency to separate thebelt from the hopper instead of forcing it into greater contact, aswould be the case if the belt were inside. It also permits of the orebeing carried'such a distance through a substantially bottomless hopperas to be spread evenly over it without danger of its loss or escaping atthe sides of the hopper.

A suitable form of clutch is provided for driving the belt-drivingpulley, and means are provided for intermittently operating said clutch.The clutch device should be constructed to operate with great exactnessand without any slip or loss of motion, and I have ktherefore devisedfor this purpose a contrivance, illustrated in the drawings, in which 7is a friction-wheel, which serves to drive the belt-driving pulley 3,being connected therewith by the shaft 8.

9 is a clutch-arm, preferably pivoted coaxially of the wheel, beingdesirably pivoted on the shaft 8 and bifurcated, having two parts a andwhich straddle the wheel 7, so that So-i IOO

the arm has a bearing on each side of the wheel. Said arm is alsoprovided with a tangential way lO--that is to say, a way which istangential to an arc described from the axis of the wheel 7. Said way isdesirably open at the top to receive a carrier or steel facing 11 forthe way 10, which is to serve the double purpose of a bearing and aretainer for a detached body, preferably a friction-roller 12, which maybe inserted into the way after the member 11 has been partiallyinserted, and together with the member 11 will be allowed to fully seatin the way 10, as shown in Fig. V, in which the roller 12 is shown indotted linesv resting against the rim of the wheel 7, so that when theclutch-arm 9 is lowered the roller 12 will slip along' the wheel 7, sothat the arm 9 can be moved downward without rotating the wheel; but onthe reverse movement of thearm 9 the roller 12 engages between the'wheel 7 and the face c of the member 11, thus instantly gripping thewheel and partially rotating' it as the lever moves upward. Thefacing-piece has an inturned upper end or part projecting toward thewheel, so as to serve as a retainer for the roller 12.

13 designates the stamp, and 14 a shoulder thereon, desirably a collarmounted on the stamp-stem, which operates the lever 15, that is pivotedat 16 to the frame 17 of the orefeeder.

18 is a link or connecting-rod connecting the lever 15 with the arm 9.

19 is a spring to draw the lever 15 and the connecting-rod 18 andclutch-arm 9 positively downward.

2O is an adjusting-screw for limiting the downward movement of the armof the lever which carries the connecting-rod 18.

21 is an ore-chute for feeding the ore in approximately appropriatequantities to the hopper 6. The lower front end of the hopper isdesirably recessed or cut away, as at 22, immediately above the belt 1,as illustrated in Fig. III, to allow the ore to be carried out freely bythe belt. The part of belt1 which forms the bottom of hopper 6 ishorizontal, or substantially so. Ore-chute 21 is at the opposite end ofthe elongated hopper from the outlet 22, so that the material fallingfrom said chute will pile up on the belt adjacent to the chute, and onaccount of the horizontality of the belt such material will not slide orcrowd to the outlet, but will be carried toward samea little at a timeby the movement of the belt. Such movement, together with the jarringaction, will cause the material to spread out on the belt to a fairlythin and uniform layer before it gets to the free opening 22, and thefeed through this opening is therefore dependent only on the amount ofmovement of the belt.

In machines of this character it has been customary to use a gate at theoutlet to regulate the discharge to the stamp, and if such a gate be setto feed properly with a given iineness of ore it will fail to feedproperly when ore of a different lineness reaches the gate; but bydispensing with a gate and providing a free outlet between the belt andthe hopper, through which all the material carried by that'part of thebelt which is next the outlet will be delivered to the stamp at a rateproportional to the feed of the belt, I avoid all such variations anduncertainty in action, as well as the excessive friction and liabilityof clogging' incident to the use of a gate, and I enable the rate offeed to be exactly proportional to the requirements o'f the stampirrespective of the fineness of the ore, the movement of the stamp andthe resulting movement of the belt being dependent on the quantity ofpulp between the shoe and the die.

ln practical operation the ore or other material to be crushed may beintroduced into the hopper 6 in suitable quantities through the chute21, and the stamp13 being operated will act upon the free arm 23 of thelever 15, thus operating the clutch mechanism through the medium of theconnecting-rod 18. At each downstroke of the stamp the clutch-arm 9 willbe raised and the roller 12, engaging the wheel 7, will rotate the samea determined distance, thus driving the belt forward and depositing' inthe trough 24, which leads from the end of the belt` a determinedquantity of the ore. As the stamp rises the spring 19 draws the lever 15down to rest on the screw 20, thus bringing the friction-roller 12 intoposition to operate the wheel 7 at the next downstroke of the stamp. Thelength of the stroke, and consequently the travel of the belt, at eachdownward movement of the stamp may be regulated by adjusting the screw 20 tostop the lever 15 at one or another place, as required for the workin hand. When the screw 2O is adjusted to stop the lever 15 at an earlyperiod of its movement, the travel of the belt is more limited, and whenthe screw is lowered the travel of the belt at each stroke of the stampwill be greater.

To increase the depth of ore over the die 25, the screw 20 may belowered. To decrease such depth, the screw 20 will be screwed up. Tosupport the belt and its load of heavy ore while it is traveling thedistance necessary to cause the ore to spread out in this even anduniform manner, several rollers 4 are preferably journaled in the sidesof the frame horizontally between the end rollers 3 and 5. As the beltis driven forward by quick impulses the mass of the ore, except that indirect contact with the belt, lags behind and prevents the bunching ofthe ore at the delivery end of the belt, but permits that which iscarried forward to spread out in a uniform layer, from which it isdelivered to the mill.

With the feeder which I have constructed in accordance with thisinvention atBarstow,

California, I find that the depth of pulp between the shoe and die hasnot varied over a quarter of an inch in a three-weeks run. Theregulation of this depth has been wholly automatic and not dependent onany adjustment of the screw, said screw being used only for the purposeof starting the machine into operation and then determining the depth ofpulp between the shoe and die.

The belt is desirably made of rubber protected from wear by round-headedor semispherical tacks 26, of iron, steel, or other suitable metal.These tacks are desirably driven through the belt with the heads incontact with the belt and set close together and their points clenchedon the other side.

The tacks which I have used are about half an inch, more or less, indiameter and are set close together-for example, about an eighth of aninch, more or less, apart-so as to form an armor on the belt toprotect'the body of the belt from wear. The stem or body of the tacksshould be of as small diameter as possible, i

so as to avoid weakening the belt.

The arm 9 may be fastened to the shaft 8 by a collar 28, held in placeon the shaft by a set-screw 29.

From the foregoing description it will be `seen that the member 11,together with the side pieces 9 and the face of the wheel 7 form areceptacle or pocket into which any suitable detached body may beplaced, it being understood that I do not limit myself to the use of aroller to grip the wheel, although I at present deem that form of bodypreferable. It is understood that I may make the feederframe as ahanger, as well as a stand, and that various changes in the variousparts may be made without departing from my invention. Nor do I limitthe invention to feeding into the mortar 30 of the stamp-mill form of fCrusher.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is-

1. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an open-bottomed hopper, alongitudinally-movable belt arranged to travel directly underneath thesame, the edges of the belt extending beyond the sides of the hopper andeach provided with a flange which projects above the Vbottom of thehopper, and means for moving the belt forward.

2. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an

open-bottomed hopper, a iianged roller at each end of the bottomthereof, said anges being beyond the sides of the hopper, a belt oversaid rollers, the edges of which are flanged andV t between the flangesof the rollers and also extend beyond the sides of the hopper, means forsupporting the belt between said rollers directly underneath the .bottomof the hopper with its flanges extending above the bottom edges of thesides of the hopper, and means for moving the belt forward.

3. In an ore-feeder for crushing-mills, an open-bottomed hopper, aseries of rollers beneath the bottom thereof, the end ones being beyondthe ends of the hopper and each provided with a iiange at each end, abelt on said rollers, the edges of which belt extend beyond the sides ofthe hopper, each edge of the belt being flanged and the portion of thesurface between the flanges being provided with protecting-shields, andmeans for moving the belt forward.

4. In combination, a stamp, a mortar therefor, a wheel and ore-feedingmechanism operatively connected therewith, a member operativelyconnected to be moved by the movement of the stamp, a way formed in saidmember adjacent to the periphery of the wheel, a removable facing-piecein said way, inclined inward and downward toward said wheel,and acircular body between said facingpiece and the wheel.

5. In combination, a stamp, amortar therefor, a wheel and ore-feedingmechanism operatively connected therewith, a member operativelyconnected to be moved by the movement of the stamp, a way formed in saidmember adjacent to the periphery of theV wheel, a removable facing-piecein said way, inclined inward and downward toward said wheel, and acircular body between said facingpiece and the wheel, said facing-piecehaving an upper part projecting toward the wheel to act as a retainerfor the circular body.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, at Los Angeles, in the county ofLos Angeles and State of California, this 24th day of December, 1902.

CHAS. C. HAMILL.

Witnesses:

JAMES R. TowNsnND, F. M. TowNsEND.

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